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A - Competitive Program - Overview

1.0 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS (Rule 5305)

SELECTION OF TEAMS:

SKATERS IN MOST RECENT CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: The general basis of selection shall be the showing of the skater in the most recent Canadian Championships of the equivalent standard. The Board of Directors shall, however, give consideration to all factors in making their decision.

SKATERS NOT IN MOST RECENT CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Board of Directors may also consider skaters who, for reasons acceptable to the Board, did not compete in the most recent Canadian Championships. The skaters thus considered:

IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Shall have placed among the first four in the Senior event or first in the Junior event in the Canadian Championships immediately preceding the most recent ones; or,

PAIR OR DANCE COUPLES WITH CHANGE OF PARTNERS: In the case of pair or dance couples, shall be skaters whose competitive record with former partners and whose skating record with new partners in lesser competitions is, in the opinion of the Board, of suitable caliber.

TRIAL COMPETITIONS: The Board of Directors may hold trial competitions to assist in the selection of the members of a team. The time, place of holding, and conditions of the competitions, such as elimination of competitors at any stage of the competition, eligibility, etc., shall be set by the Board of Directors.

NOMINATION OF TEAMS:

NOMINATED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Teams to represent the Association at any international event shall be nominated by the Board of Directors.

ELIGIBILITY: All competitors and officials shall be members of the Association. Competitors shall also conform to the provisions of Rule 5401.

TEAM OF FEWER THAN THE NUMBER PERMITTED: The Board of Directors may select a team of fewer than the number permitted to enter any competition.

ALTERNATE MEMBERS: The Board of Directors may send alternate members if deemed necessary to any event.

WITHHOLDING OR WITHDRAWING OF NOMINATIONS TO A TEAM: The Board of Directors may withhold or withdraw the nomination of any person for conduct unbecoming a representative of the Association.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NOMINEES TO A TEAM: The nominees to all events shall be announced upon approval of the selection of the team by the Board of Directors.

TEAM MANAGEMENT: The Board of Directors shall be empowered to appoint team managers, assistant team managers, medical/paramedical staff and chaperones, and such other members of a team as may be deemed necessary.

2.0 QUALIFICATIONS TO COMPETE

2.1 ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE (Rule 5401)

Entrants in Canadian Championship events, or qualifying events for Canadian Championships shall:

ASSOCIATE MEMBER: Be Associate members in good standing of the Association.

CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP: Be Canadian citizens within the meaning of the Citizenship Act, RSC 1985. If the individual is not a Canadian citizen, such individual must have permanent resident status and have resided in Canada for at least one year prior to the date of the Championships they wish to enter. Also, if the entrant is of legal age, the entrant must file a declaration to indicate that he intends in good faith to become a Canadian citizen. If the entrant is an alien minor, he and the living parents (or guardians if both parents are deceased) must have also filed a sworn statement with the Chief Executive Officer of Skate Canada that said minor intends to become a citizen as soon as legally possible. In the case of a pair or an ice dance couple, at least one partner must be a Canadian citizen. The other partner may be a citizen or resident of a country of any other ISU Member and need not reside in Canada.

ANTI-DOPING POLICY AND DOPING CONTROL POLICY: Agree to be subject to Association rules and regulations regarding doping controls, on an announced or unannounced basis, as determined by the Board of Directors from time to time. Such rules and regulations shall be entitled “Skate Canada Anti-Doping Policy and Doping Control Program” and shall be made available to potential entrants upon request to their Section or the National Office. (See Skate Canada Policies and Procedures.)

3.0 GENERAL TECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR ALL FIGURE SKATING COMPETITIONS USING 6.0 JUDGING SYSTEM

3.1 MARKING COMPETITIONS

SCALE: In marking all competitions the following scale shall be used:

0 - not skated

1 - very poor

2 - poor

3 - mediocre

4 - good

5 - very good

6 - outstanding performance

Decimals to one place are permitted as intermediate values (e.g. 1.2, 3.4, 5.4).

ELEMENTS IN ISOLATION: Shall be awarded a single mark.

PATTERN DANCES: All Pattern dances in competition shall be awarded two marks. The first mark shall be for Technique and the second for Timing/Expression.

SHORT PROGRAM: The Short Program shall be awarded two marks. The first mark shall be for Required Elements and the second for Presentation.

SHORT DANCE: The Junior and Senior original dance has been replaced by the short dance. Please refer to ISU website and communications for information and technical requirements

FREE SKATING AND PAIR SKATING, INTERPRETIVE, FREE DANCING AND SYNCHRONIZED SKATING FREE SKATING: Shall be awarded two marks. The first shall be for Technical Merit and the second for Presentation. These terms are defined in the subsections relating to these disciplines.

INTERPRETIVE SKATING: Shall be judged as described in Section 4000 of Technical Handbook.

TWO FOOTED MOVEMENTS: Unnecessary and prolonged movements executed on two feet must not be marked and should be penalized by the judges.

SOMERSAULT TYPE JUMPS: Are forbidden (illegal) and must be penalized by the judges.

3.2 STOPS AND FALLS

No movement shall be considered complete if marred by a fall. An involuntary touch-down shall be reflected in the marking according to its seriousness. A fall in itself shall be no bar to winning a competition or passing a test. If a skater falls through his own fault it shall be reflected in the mark for Technical Merit and also in the mark for Presentation if the fall interrupts the harmonious composition. When a skater stops or falls for any reason except interference the following shall apply:

SKATING SKILLS EXERCISES AND PATTERN DANCES: In Skating Skills exercises and Pattern dances the skater shall continue from the nearest technically practicable point after the point of interruption and not necessarily from the exact point of interruption. The couple may not repeat the steps missed by the interruption in the case of Pattern dancing.

ELEMENTS IN ISOLATION: In elements in isolation, the move will be deemed to have been concluded.

FREE SKATING, INTERPRETIVE SKATING, FREE DANCING, PAIR OR GROUP SKATING: In free skating, interpretive skating, and free dancing, pair or group skating the skater shall resume the program as quickly as possible. No extension of time shall be provided. Stroking exercises should be resumed from the point of interruption.

PERSONAL ACCIDENTS: No allowance may be made by the judges for personal accidents due to the fault of the skater.

DEDUCTION OF MARKS FOR STUMBLES, FALLS AND INTERRUPTIONS IN ICE DANCING: In the case of a fall and/or interruption in ice dancing, marks must be deducted by the judges from the first mark as follows and also from the second mark if the fall affects the timing or expression of the dance.

PATTERN DANCES:

STUMBLE OR FALL UNDER 5 SECONDS: The following deductions shall be applied in the case of a stumble or fall in any part of a Pattern dance:

Under 5 seconds:

Stumble or brief interruption 0.1

Fall of one partner (small down and up) 0.2

Fall of both partners (small down and up) 0.3

STUMBLE OR FALL OVER 5 SECONDS: The following deductions shall be applied when the performance has been interrupted by a Stumble or Fall and the interruption is longer than the above and part or all of a sequence has been omitted:

Over 5 seconds:

DANCES WITH:

Up to 1/2 sequence

More than 1/2 sequence

Whole sequences (per sequence)

2 sequences

0.4-1.0

1.1-1.5

3.0

3 sequences

0.3-0.7

0.8-1.0

2.0

4 sequences

0.3-0.5

0.6-0.8

1.5

6 sequences

0.2-0.3

0.4-0.5

1.0

DEDUCTIONS FOR REPEATING STEPS MISSED: The Deduction for repeating steps missed by a Stumble, Fall or Interruption is 0.1

SHORT DANCE AND FREE DANCE:

SMALL STUMBLE OR FALL: The following deductions should be applied when a Stumble or Fall occurs in any part of the program including the required elements:

Stumble or brief interruption 0.1

Fall of one partner 0.2

Fall of both partners 0.3

MEDIUM OR LARGE STUMBLE OR FALL: The following deductions should be applied when the performance is interrupted by a Stumble or Fall and a part of the program is omitted:

Medium (6-15 seconds) 0.4-1.0

Large (15 plus seconds) 1.1-1.5

APPLICATION OF THE DEDUCTION: The deduction is taken from the first mark. It may also be reflected in the second mark if, in the case of Pattern

dances, the timing and/or expression is affected or, in the case of the short

dance, free dance and interpretive dance, the presentation is affected.

DETERMINATION OF THE DURATION OF THE INTERRUPTION: It shall be the responsibility of the Referee to inform the panel of judges of the approximate duration of the interruption.

3.3 ALLOWANCE OF A DELAYED START OR CONTINUANCE

If the tempo or quality of the music is deficient, the competitor may restart the program from its beginning, provided the referee is informed within thirty seconds after the start of the program.

If there is an interruption or stop in the music or any other adverse condition unrelated to the competitor’s equipment, such as lighting, ice condition, etc., the competitor(s) must stop skating at the acoustic signal of the referee. The competitor(s) shall continue from the point of interruption immediately after the problem has been solved. If, however, the interruption lasts longer than 10 minutes, there shall be a second warm-up period according to 7000 G 2.1(4).

If a competitor is injured during the performance or another adverse condition re¬lated to his or her equipment (such as health problems or unexpected dam¬age to clothing or equipment) impedes his or her skating, the competitor(s) must stop skating. If the competitor does not stop, they will be ordered to do so by an acoustic signal of the referee. If the adverse condition can be remedied without delay, the competitor(s) shall imme¬diately continue from the point of interruption. If this is not pos¬sible, the referee will allow a period of up to three minutes for the competitor(s) to resume skating from the point of interruption. This time period com¬mences immediately after the competitor(s) stops skating or is ordered to do so by the referee, whichever is earlier.

In qualifying competitions leading up to and including all national championships, if the competitor(s) does not resume skating the program within the three minutes period, the competitor(s) shall be considered withdrawn. At all other competitions, application of this regulation is at the discretion of the referee.

The referee shall decide from which point in the program the competitor is to continue and shall communicate this to the competitor, the judges and the technical panel.

If a competitor with the first starting number in the group is injured or any other adverse condition related to his or her equipment impeding skating occurs during the warm-up period, and time before the start of the program is not suffi¬cient to remedy the adverse condition, the referee shall allow the competitor up to three additional minutes before being called to the start.

If any competitor between entering the ice and being called to the start is injured, or any other adverse condition related to him or her or his or her equipment impeding his or her skating occurs and time before the start of the program is not suffi¬cient to remedy the adverse condition, the referee shall allow the competitor up to three additional minutes before being called to the start.

With respect to adverse conditions related to a competitor or his equipment, only one continuance per program is allowed. In the case of a second stop of the per¬formance due to an adverse condition related to the competitor or equip¬ment, the competitor concerned shall be considered withdrawn.

If the competitor(s) does/do not complete the program, no marks are awarded and the competitor(s) is/are withdrawn. If a competitor(s) is/are unable to complete the program, no marks are to be awarded and the competitor(s) is/are withdrawn. The same applies to a situation where the competitor(s) has/have been given the opportunity to continue the program from the point of interruption and is still unable to complete the program.

3.4 INCOMPLETE PERFORMANCE IN COMPETITION

This section is for events run using OBO judging system

FREE PROGRAM: The competitor is allowed to finish the free program within ten seconds plus or minus the required time. If the competitor fails to finish the free program within the allowed time range, there should be a 0.1 deduction in the marks for technical merit and presentation for up to every ten seconds lacking or in excess. If the duration of the free program is thirty seconds or more under the required time range, no marks will be awarded.

SHORT PROGRAM: In the case of the short program, there should be a 0.1 deduction in the marks for required elements and presentation for up to every ten seconds in excess. The timekeepers must inform the Referees who must then advise the Judges the number of seconds in excess.

TIME OF THE PROGRAM: The time of the program will be reckoned from the moment the skater begins to move or to skate and conclude when skater comes to a complete stop at the end of the program.

3.5 CLOTHING

Except as specified in the Technical Handbook, Synchronized Skating Section D - 3.0 for Synchronized Skating, clothing for all Canadian qualifying events shall meet the following specifications:

The clothing of competitors must be modest, dignified and appropriate for athletic competition – not garish or theatrical in design. Clothing may however, reflect the character of the music chosen. Accessories and props are not permitted.

TYPE OF CLOTHING:

In Single and Pair Skating

The clothing must not give the effect of excessive nudity for athletic sport. Men must wear trousers; no tights are permitted. Women may wear skirts, trousers or tights. Sleeveless costumes are now permitted for women and men in the above-noted disciplines.

In Ice Dancing

Women must wear a skirt. The woman’s dress must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for an athletic sport. Men must wear full length trousers; no tights are permitted and the man's costume may not be sleeveless. The decorations on costumes must not be detachable.

DEDUCTION FOR NOT COMPLYING: Clothing not meeting the foregoing requirements must be penalized by the judges by a deduction of 0.1 in the mark for presentation.

See also the Composition section for individual events and disciplines.